Smoke And Mirrors
by Akirys
Summary: Serperior's Guild is a famous base for rescue and exploration teams of all kinds. Two friends, a Misdreavus and a Salandit, finally work up the courage to apply, but they're almost immediately beset by some challenges that may be out of their league. Originally written as a roleplay based on Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.
1. Lannie And Lewis Approach The Guild

**A/N: Welp, I didn't plan on uploading another Pokémon story right now, and certainly not one like this! Greetings, friends, and welcome to a collaboration. This entire story is actually a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon-style roleplay between my friend RustRedLion13 and I. I'm playing Melanite (Lannie) the Misdreavus, and he's playing Lewis the Salandit. He's also the narrator and the player of all the other guild members, random NPCs, etc, but I might take over for some other characters in the future. You may even be able to distinguish between who's writing what.**

 **Please forgive any typos or awkward sentence wording. This whole story is a back-and-forth roleplay copied directly into a document with very few edits, so some of it might come off a bit strangely.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

The story begins with a Salandit and a Misdreavus standing in front of the gates of the Serperior guild; the most famous, most intense, most awesome guild for heroes, mercenaries, and the like. The duo have been planning this out for quite some time now, but it was only recently that they could find the courage to apply. Now, face to face with the daunting steel bars, the Salandit is seriously reconsidering his life choices.

"This was a bad idea. This was a really, really bad idea and I don't know why I let you drag me into this."

"Yes, be more scared," Melanite the Misdreavus said agreeably. "Fear is good. I like fear."

Lannie bobbed up and down. "Okay, now, I don't have hands, could you open the door?"

"I can't open it. There's supposed to be a guard on the other side." He gazed at a golden inscription above the gate warily. He had no clue what it said-he was illiterate-but it was probably very honorable. "But I don't know how to start. Do I just, like, talk into it, or...?"

"Sure," Lannie said. In all honesty, she was about fifty seconds away from ghosting straight through the bars and crashing the place. "Try screaming at it!"

Lewis looked at Lannie with shock. "What? No, that's-that's a terrible idea!" He then sighed and looked down. "But, I mean...we aren't gonna get anything done just standing here..."

"Then! Scream at it!" Lannie repeated. "Or like, burn it down!"

"Okay, okay, fine!" He shook his head and slowly saundered up to the gate. "Um...h-hello? I-Is anybody there?"

"State your name."

Lewis stepped back suddenly. He wasn't expecting a response, not when it was practically sundown, but...

"Um..." He glanced back at Lannie nervously.

"Your name is Lewis," Lannie whispered.

"Uh..."

"Well?"

"L...Lewis. It's Lewis."

"And your friend?"

"lannie"

"...Okay, I guess."

There was a click as the gates rose, allowing Lewis and Lannie access. Lewis was shocked once more, but as he turned around, he gave Lannie a sly grin of happiness before slithering in.

Lannie's returning grin came out more as a diabolical smirk. She blinked, shut her mouth and slipped in after him.

It was dark.

Very dark.

Lewis felt like he'd been walking for forever, but he had been walking at an incredibly slow pace so he didn't run into anything, and he didn't want to use fire for fear of burning something down.

After what was probably a few minutes, Lewis spotted a light in the distance.

"Oh hey look, a light." Lannie went ahead and floated towards it. It was a lot harder to scare her than it was her friend.

"Yeah."

As they approached the light, they would emerge into a small room, dimly lit by a single torch in the far corner. in the center of the room, a Rhydon wearing a leather strap across his torso glared at the two of them, arms crossed.

"Tch. An acid-spewing shrimp and a ghost. Perfect."

Lewis shrank into the wall. "Uhh..."

Lannie looked irritated. She probably would have crossed her arms if she had any. "'Ghost,' huh?"

"I couldn't think of a good insult." The Rhydon spat. "My name's Ryder."

"Ryder?" Lewis tilted his head. "Like, Rhydon, but, not."

A glare from Ryder shut him up quickly. "So I guess you're here to recruit. Too bad. We're not accepting any new members at this time."

"Why not?" pressed Lannie.

Ryder turned to Lannie, arms still crossed, and shrugged. "We just aren't. Now go home, before I kick you out myself."

"But...but please!" Lewis pressed. "We've been planning this for years, we can't just-"

Ryder growled. "We don't got all night. If you don't get out now, I'm gonna-"

"That's enough, Ryder."

Every person in the room shivered as a result of the sudden draft that came into the room and the deep, powerful voice that bounced off the walls and shook everyone down to the bone. The Crobat hovered in forebodingly, and both Lewis and Ryder felt like they had done something very, very terrible.

Being a Misdreavus, Lannie was very, very aware of the sudden rush of fear in the room. Her eyes darted to the Crobat almost approvingly. She didn't like bullies, but she respected Pokémon who could command attention like that.

The Crobat flapped over to Ryder's side, and Lannie could probably feel the fear eminating from him, though his face showed no emotion. "Ryder, who are these?"

"New recruits, sir."

"So you recruited them yourself?"

"Well, no, sir, but-"

"Good. We could always use some more firepower," the Crobat quipped. A look of shock and regret washed over Ryder's face, before morphing into anger. "But-"

"I'm not in the mood to argue, Ryder." The Crobat turned to Lewis and Lannie. "My name is Hermes. And you are...?"

"Er..." If the Salandit had a collar, he would've tugged at it nervously. "I, uh..."

"Do you not have a name?" Hermes asked. "You can make one up if you want. I don't care."

Lewis blinked. "Um, my name is...Dioxid. Yeah."

Hermes raised an eyebrow, but didn't take it any further. "And you?" He pointed a wing at Lannie.

Lannie was giving Lewis an incredulous look, but her attention quickly snapped over to Hermes. "I'm Melanite! Lannie."

"Lannie..." Hermes muttered, as if deep in thought. "Okay. Nice to meet you both. Now, I'd love to get you acquainted, but it's very late, isn't it?"

"Sundown, sir."

"Right. So how about we get you to your rooms and we'll get this sorted out in the morning."

"If I may, sir, I'm not sure if I trust these two." Ryder shuffled his feet uncertainly. "After all, one of them is a ghost type."

"And?"

"..."

"We do not discriminate here at Serperior's Guild," Hermes explained. "We are warriors of justice, not warriors of everything but ghosts."

Lennie smiled, just a little. "Thank you. Sir."

Hermes glanced at Lannie, but didn't say anything. "So, are we done here?"

Slightly, only slightly, Ryder's voice quivered. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, let's get you two to your new rooms."

Hermes led the duo into a small, circular room, completely empty save for the two straw beds located on opposite ends of the room. "This is where you'll be staying tonight." Hermes said.

"Woah, we get our own beds?!" Lewis exclaimed.

"Don't get too comfortable; you'll be tested tomorrow," Hermes explained, "and your results will determine whether or not you stay."

"Test," Lannie said to herself. "Test. Test. All right, thank you. I'm going to talk to Di - Lewis now."

Hermes looked confused, and Lewis looked upset, but no one decided to push the topic any further. Instead, Hermes flew a bit higher and turned to leave. "Sleep tight, you two. You'll need it." And just as swiftly as he entered, he was gone.

Lewis let out a sigh of relief, as if he had been held hostage this entire time, then quickly turned to Lannie. "Hey, you know I changed my name for a reason."

"I met Lewis. Lewis was nice to me. I think I'll stick with him, not Dioxid." It was hard to tell if she was being encouraging or not.

It was Lewis's turn to be confused, but he shook his head as if shooing the topic away. "Whatever. Let's just try to get some sleep, yeah?"

"Yeah. Good night!"

"Good night."

And that's how the story started.

 **A/N: Hey, you made it to the end! But that's certainly not where the story stops. More chapters are to come. This RP was never even meant to become a real story, so I'm very excited that it's turned out so coherent. Thanks, RedLion!**

 **If you like this story, please leave a review. Any thoughts on Lannie? Misdreavus are super cool...just putting that out there...**

 **Have a great day!**

 **~*Akirys*~**


	2. Lannie And Lewis Get Tested

**A/N: NEW CHAPTER! Thanks for reading!**

~*Q*~

Lannie woke up first. Ghosts didn't need to sleep much. She stared at Lewis unblinkingly until he woke up too.

There was a loud crashing outside their room, and a few seconds later, Rydon appeared, rather angry.

"UP AND AT 'EM, RECRUITS! WE'RE BURNIN' DAYLIGHT!"

While Lewis was getting accustomed with the new ringing in his ears, Ryder noticed Lannie already awake and narrowed his eyes.

Lannie narrowed her eyes right back, which was a little intimidating on a Ghost-type. She continued to do so until Lewis was fully awake.

Ryder was hardly intimidated. "I could crush you like a rock." He threatened.

"Okay," Lannie said. "That's funny, actually, since you're a Rock-type, and I'm a Ghost-type, and I'm not very tangible if you know what I mean...Dioxid, wake up."

"Changing your name was a terrible idea." The Rhydon said.

"Muh?" Lewis blinked a couple times and rubbed his eyes. Ryder shook his head almost disapprovingly and turned to leave, saying, "Get to the foyer in five. Hermes doesn't like to be kept waiting." And then he left. Lewis watched Ryder walk off and turned to Lannie. "What was that about?"

"He probably wanted to tell us that Hermes doesn't like to be kept waiting," Lannie said reasonably. "Let's go!"

"Fair enough."

Lewis and Lannie's room were at the very end of a long hallway lined with rooms. Some of the rooms were open and didn't have a lot; a plush toy, a trophy, trash, but as they got closer to the foyer, closed rooms with doors (doors!) became more frequent.

Once the duo reached the end of the hallway, they'd notice that the foyer looked very different from last night. Before, it was small and menacing, but with the torches reignited and Pokemon teams filling the spaces, it was a lot more friendly.

On the wall, to the right of the hallway, Hermes and Ryder sat in front of a large golden door, along with a Swoobat, who's white fur had been dyed pink at the tips.

Lannie wasn't emoting much, but she was vibrating with excitement. THEY MADE IT!

The group noticed Lewis and Lannie, and while the guys didn't look too excited, the Swoobat was...more than that. Ecstatic was probably the right word.

She flew up to their faces happily. "Hi there! You must be the new recruits! My name's Thalia! Come on!" She grabbed Lewis by the arm and dragged him to the door.

"Hi," Lannie said. "I'm Lannie..." Her voice faded out as she floated along with them.

"Thalia, what did I say about manhandling the new recruits?" Hermes sounded stern, but there was a hint of...some kind of positive emotion in his voice, and Ryder looked like he was stifling a laugh.

"Right, right, sorry!" Thalia let go of a disoriented Lewis and waited for Lannie to catch up. Once she did, Ryder stepped forward with his arms behind his back.

"There are two parts to your test," Ryder explained. "A physical and mental challenge. For the physical portion, Hermes will guide you through an obstacle course filled with targets; your task is to destroy as many targets as you can within the time allotted, pushing your speed, power, and reflexes to the limit. Your mental exam is somewhat similar; you'll be placed in a simulation where there are twenty "bad Pokemon" and five "good" Pokemon. You have to discern the two factions and incapacitate the bad Pokemon without harming the good ones. Is this clear?"

"yes"

"...Oh, I, uh, think I got it."

"You think?" Ryder said.

"...Yyyyeah..."

Ryder sighed. "Alright then. Dioxid, you go with Thalia. Melanite, you're going with Hermes."

Hermes nodded, somehow. "Follow me," he said, then started flapping down a hallway.

Lannie followed him slowly. She felt a little strange to be called Melanite, though she didn't say anything about it. As she left, she turned just slightly to give Lewis one of her goodbye hairflips.

Lewis smiled at Lannie, but he looked a little unsure of himself. As Hermes turned a corner, he disappeared.

"So what are we doing?" Lannie demanded once the others were out of sight. Her voice was caught somewhere between monotone and excitement.

"We're walking." Hermes replied deadpan. "Well, floating slash flying."

The hallway lead into an open field behind the guild, filled with trees, bushes, and lots and lots of flowers. The path was paved with cobblestone and split into three paths; two led that led into the hedges and one that continued forward into a giant fountain decorated with various inscriptions and designs, the most prominent being that of a Serperior coiling around a Hydreigon.

"The Serperior looks familiar," Lannie commented.

"That's the founder of the guild, as you may already know." Hermes explained. "You can tell by the markings on her tail. The Hydreigon is said to be her rival, but some of our best historians believe that he never existed at all; instead, the Hydreigon represents her inner fears."

"Anyway, are you ready?"

Lannie nodded, slightly distracted and fascinated by the word "fears." "Yes."

"Alright." Hermes floated over to the left hedge maze and motioned for Lannie to follow. "So let's get this started."

When Lannie made it, she would see a long corridor filled with targets, at least thirty of them, along with a lot of grass and water type Pokemon.

"Try to hit all thirty targets while avoiding the attacks," Hermes said. "You can move as fast as you want, but you can't move backwards. If you miss a target, so be it. If you get knocked out, it's over. You've got two minutes. As soon as you cross this line-" he pointed at a brown line on the ground "-those Pokemon will start attacking. Try your best." Hermes flew to the other side of the corridor and landed on a bush.

"...Okay."

Lannie's moves were Growl, Psywave, and Shadow Sneak. She hated using Psywave because of how unpredictable it was, so she floated up to the line and waited.

Two, three, four...Lannie vanished quick as she could and made a break for the nearest Pokemon's shadow, hoping to hide inside it and hop to the next like a Froakie on lily pads.

"...wait, where'd she go?"

"She just disappeared!"

"That's not fair!"

"I'll allow it," Hermes announced. "In a real dungeon, you need to use every resource available to you."

"..."

"That's stupid."

Lannie stayed crouched in the shadows. Two, three, four...The Pokemon's shadow extended across the ground as Lannie peeled out of it and towards the next Pokémon.

"You already skipped four targets, Lannie," Hermes called out. "You gotta come out sometime."

"I know," Lannie said, but quietly - whispered to herself. She scanned the area for the nearest target, mostly to shut Hermes up, and popped out of the ground long enough to fire a Psywave at it. Psywaves ranged from "Hydro Pump" to "piddly stream of water" in terms of how forceful they could be, so she waited to see if the attack would reach enough to knock the target down.

"Look, it came from over there!"

"HEY! That's me, you idiot!"

The Psywave wasn't strong enough to break the target, but Hermes saw it reach the target and nodded. "Keep going."

Lannie was quickly remembering that she wasn't allowed to go back to targets. More determined this time, she popped out of the shadow and unleashed a threatening Growl. In the time that followed, she sped forward and spit out as many Psywaves as she could, aimed as accurately as possible.

The Pokemon-a Breloom and a Shellder-gasped and tried to hit her, but missed. Hermes started to look interested.

Tired, Lannie tumbled into the next shadow for a reprieve, then remembered the time limit. She attacked the nearest target directly, sailed straight through it, and used Psywave from behind.

"There she is! Someone, quick!"

A nearby Staryu tried to hit her with a Confusion, and due to the unpredictable nature of the move, it waited before trying to attack again.

Lannie knew the Staryu could do some serious damage, especially since her defenses were shot from mostly relying on intangibility to take attacks, but she dodged as fast as she could and kept firing Psywave. She was completely focused on the targets now.

Lannie was halfway there, but now that she was visible, everybody was going to town on her; water, vines, rocks, you name it. They were mostly weak moves, like Water Gun and Rock Throw, but the speed at which they came at her and the sheer number of them made it hard to navigate. Every once in a while, a very strong move like Frenzy Plant would sprout out of the ground to hit her, but it was usually easy to spot.

Hermes continued to watch with growing curiosity. "One minute," he called out over the din of splashes and thumps.

The water was the hardest to dodge. Lannie yelped at the sting a couple of times, but kept going, trying to get the Water Guns to blast the other attacks away. The smaller the Rock Throws were, the more difficult they were to dodge, too, so she was getting pelted by the pebbles and debris that she was too distracted to keep an eye on.

The Frenzy Plants were the least of her concern since she was levitating high above the ground.

Finally, exhausted, Lannie let out another sharp Growl and stopped firing long enough to vanish into a Water-type's shadow. She had successfully hit eleven targets so far. She summoned her strength for one last go.

"45 seconds," Hermes said, "And you haven't even hit half of the targets. You're almost to the end."

Each Pokemon shuddered in anticipation as they waited for Lannie to appear. They were gonna get her this time for sure.

Lannie didn't bother counting to four this time. She vaulted straight out of the shadows and somersaulted crazily through the air, blasting Psywaves in all directions. Some hit the targets; some hit Pokémon; some fizzled out before they landed anywhere. A single lucky strike was so powerful that it burnt a hole clear through a target and into the hedges.

As time ran out, Lannie finally ran out of energy and made a crash-landing at the very end of the course, still while being pelted by attacks from all directions. She skidded until she was sunk halfway into the ground. Blinking, Lannie flipped around and tried to count up the targets she'd hit.

Nineteen out of thirty. That was still almost two-thirds, right?

Hermes looked down at Lannie as she rose into the air, waving a stray rock away with his wing. "Nineteen out of thirty," he said. "That's almost two-thirds. Not bad."

A pause.

"Not good, either. Let's get going. I'm pretty sure we finished first," Hermes said, flying through the now messed up hedge corridor. Some grass types were more or less upset at the destruction, and glared at Lannie as she passed by them.

She didn't make eye contact back with the Grass-types as she passed. She was too busy just staring at the ground.

"what a creep..."

As Hermes turned the corner exiting the maze, he took a brief second to glance at the fountain before turning back towards the guild.

Lannie met eyes with the Hydreigon, too, but she quickly looked away and scurried after him.

After a few minutes of waiting in silence, Thalia and Lewis came in. Lannie would notice that Lewis looked...disappointed, for lack of a better term. The two bat Pokemon wordlessly exchanged recruits, and soon Lannie was following Thalia down a staircase.

Lannie was just a bit let down, but she did her best to erase her thoughts from her head. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs with Thalia, she was feeling back to normal.

"So! The next part of your test is a more of a...mental challenge," Thalia said. "In this room, our best psychics will simulate a real-life dungeon crawl, but here's the catch; there are twenty bad Pokemon and five good ones. Your task is to dispatch all of the bad Pokemon and save the good ones. The bad ones will not only attack you, but also the good ones, and the good ones will try to help, but only one of them will actually be...well, useful, I guess. Any questions?"

Lannie paused. "How will the good ones try to help me if they're also attacking?"

"Oh, no, they're attacking the BAD ones," Thalia said.

"That makes sense," Lannie nodded. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Great! In you go!" And then Thalia pushed Lannie in. "Good luck!" And a steel door fell over the entrance.

The room was really dark now, but Lannie could hear shuffling and whispers, along with the occasional whimper.

Lannie was a Ghost-type. Of course the dark didn't bother her.

Her yellow eyes briefly gleamed in the darkness before she blinked and the light flickered out. She strained her vision, but she still couldn't see perfectly. Instead, she went invisible and slowly edged along the first wall she found.

Using Shadow Sneak, she felt around for the nearest shadow, and she let herself be drawn towards it until she found herself just behind a Pokemon. She leaned as close to them as she dared and whispered: "Are you a good one?"

"Who are you? Are you from the guild?"

The fearful edge in the Pokemon's voice was apparent enough to convince Lannie. She could probably feel the fear radiating off of him and three other Pokemon huddled around him.

"Yes," she said in a hushed voice. "Help me defeat the enemies. There are twenty of them, but I don't know where they are. Do any of you have light powers?"

"No, I'm sorry, I can't help," he whispered. "Try talking to Boris. He's the big one over there."

"QUIET," A strong voice erupted. There was a bright gray flash as a Metal Claw was struck against the hostage. The poor guy whimpered, apparently being weak to steel types.

Lannie immediately turned to the source of the Metal Claw and Growled.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Another Metal Claw appeared and hit Lannie. From somewhere in the room, there was a noise akin to a sigh.

Lannie Growled again and vanished, skirting back toward the edge of the walls.

The Metal Claw came down again, this time striking the rocky floor instead of Lannie. A few hostages gasped in surprise, and the attacking Pokemon seemed to glare at the floor.

"Go ahead and kill one of the Civilized."

"Yessir."

There was a gasp, a scream, and a choking noise as one of the hostages was held in a Vice Grip. If Lannie didn't do something quick, the Pokemon would faint, and her score would go down significantly.

Lannie dove straight for the Vice Grip, know that the typing of the move would prevent it from hurting her. As she sailed right into the claw, she turned away from the hostage and shot a Psywave into the face of the attacker.

The attacker was forced to pull back, due to the ineffectiveness of his move. The hostage fell to the ground, coughing. Lannie didn't count for one thing, however.

The attacker was a dark type.

The light from the Psybeam lit up the Crawdaunt's face in an eerie, purple glow. It stared at Lannie with blank, menacing eyes, then quickly took hold of her and swung her into the wall with Brutal Swing.

Ow.

Lannie went intangible just in time and was buried halfway into the wall - thankfully, not in a way that left a crater. The contact with the Crawdaunt's claws still hurt, though. She'd need help.

For now, Lannie swerved around the knot of enemies and scanned them from behind for one that she COULD take take out in one or two Psywaves. Then she could maybe rally the victims into helping.

The thing about the attackers was that they were ALL dark types-well, except for a few ghost types. The Crawdaunt began speaking in whispers to one of the other Pokemon, and while the good Pokemon were left alone, it was only a matter of time before they were hurt again.

 _"Hey. Psst."_

Lannie was feeling quite cheated. How'd they manage to swap out ALL the Pokemon to the worst typing ever? What had Lewis done - what had he had to face?

When she heard the voice, her eyes darted over, but she refused to speak.

 _"I know you don't want to talk, but that's fine. You just have to think."_

The strange thing about this voice was that it seemed to come from nowhere. Wherever Lannie turned, it would always be the same volume, the voice.

 _"I have an idea."_

That's when she realized: the voice was in her head.

Telepathy. Oh boy!

"Sure," Lannie hissed. Inwardly, she was wondering why this was so intense for a trial. The research she'd poked Lewis into doing hadn't prepared them at all for this.

 _"Dark types are known for their aggression. If you can get them to turn on each other, our job will be a lot easier."_

"Got any ideas?" Lannie murmured.

There was no response from the Voice in Lannie's Head. It looks like she would have to figure it out herself.

There was a Spiritomb and a Shiftry sitting uncomfortably close to each other. Maybe she could work with that.

If there was one thing Ghost-types were stereotyped for, it was stirring up trouble. Lannie figured it was time to put all her experience to good use.

She chose to drift up behind the Shiftry, silent and invisible, and ducked down into their shadow. Spiritomb already had a pretty bad reputation, so she felt a little guilty for perpetrating it. She started making the shadow move from time to side, emitting weird Growls and using little flashes of Psywave that didn't actually do anything but appeared to be coming from the Spiritomb's malfunctioning keystone. Lannie hissed words like "hunger" and "hate" and "spooky" under her breath...those creepy subconscious messages that might put a kink in the Shiftry's leaves.

Shiftry's leaves shook in agitation. "Would you stop that?"

The Spiritomb looked rightly confused. "Stop what?"

"That thing you do. With the shadows and crap."

"I'm not doing anything."

The Shiftry sighed, irritated, and crossed his stick arms.

"Dumb Grass-type" said Lannie, her voice more like a breeze than a whisper. "Can't even fight a Caterpie without wilting up...not like me..."

As soon as Lannie finished her sentence, there was a flash of green as the Shiftry used Leaf Blade on the Spiritomb. "Am I stupid now, huh?!"

The Spiritomb did not respond, but instead, it disappeared into its keystone. Seconds later, it disappeared, and the Shiftry was face-down on the floor, Spiritomb looming over menacingly. There was a cry of anger, and a Flame Burst hit Spiritomb from behind.

And that's about the time that all hell went loose.

Lannie flattened herself against the wall and raced for the least-threatening, scaredest-looking Pokemon she could find. She dove into their shadow and started pulling on it. The Pokemon didn't feel much except for a little bit of coldness, but the shadow flickered wildly and strained towards the nearest safe place.

The Pokemon in particular didn't care much, as he was too busy trying to knock the teeth out of a Drapion. It failed, and it fell to the floor, fainted.

Darn. Lannie attacked the Drapion in its place with a Growl and dashed over to another angry-looking Pokémon.

 _"You're doing good,"_ the Voice in Lannie's Head remarked _. "We've already wiped out half of them. But remember what you're here for."_

"Trying," said Lannie. "Where are they?"

 _"They're over here. And hurry; we don't have a lot of time before they remember, too."_

Lannie rushed over in the direction of the good Pokemon. She almost Growled to get their attention but quickly remembered that she didn't want to hinder them any more than they were. "Well?"

"Right, right, thank you very much, miss!"

The Pokemon shuffled along the wall, ignoring the fighting, until they left through a hole in the wall. That done, Lannie turned and Shadow Sneaked the nearest well-they're-all-dark-types-but-at-least-this-one-has-another-typing-that-makes-it-neutral she could find.

As the sounds of fighting died down, so did the lights. Immediately after it went pitch black, the lights were suddenly turned back on, blinding Lannie.

"Congratulations!" Thalia said from somewhere in the room. "You passed the test with flying colors!"

"Good," Lannie said. "Can I meet the helpful Pokémon?"

"Sure! Here they are!"

Once Lannie's vision cleared, she'd realize the "cave" was actually just a room with rocks on the ground. In the corner where the hole "was", there was a Duosion floating idly by.

"Hi," said Lannie. She frowned, just a little. "Was it...all an illusion? How'd you get all those Dark-types?"

"It was hard," the Duosion said,"Especially when you attacked them. I had to keep track of each's stats and damage. Of course, an intelligent Pokemon like me found a way." He almost gleamed with self-absorbed pride.

"I do have some criticism, though. When the Pokemon you were talking to led you to Boris-me-you ignored him, and your Growls had very little effect on a big strong Pokemon. Teamwork and assessment of the situation is very critical in a real dungeon setting."

"Oh," said Lannie. "Okay."

Boris made a sort of nodding motion (which was basically him tilting forward a few times). "I can't say if you passed or not, but if so, I look forward to working with you."

"Great!" Thalia suddenly cheered. "Let's go see if Bruce and Dioxid are done!"

Lannie nodded and followed them all back to Lewis. She'd been sort of hoping to do well on this exam to make up for the hedge thing, but...eh?

Minutes later, the bat and ghost Pokemon met with their partners. Lewis looked significantly less sad-prideful, even-but there was still a some anxiousness on his face that Lannie could probably sense.

While Hermes and Thalia began whispering to each other, Lewis walked up to Lannie expectantly. "So...how'd it go?"

"Ehhh...bleh," she said quickly. "What happened for you, with Thalia? What sort of Pokémon?"

"They were all Dark type," Lewis answered. "Was it the same for you?"

"Yes," Lannie said, wide-eyed. Inwardly, she was DEEPLY disappointed that they hadn't been Water-types for Lewis. Not that she actually wanted him to suffer.

"And the targets?"

"Oh, that? That was a breeze," Lewis would've leaned back into his arms if he was bipedal. "I hit all the targets in record time, and I only got hit twice. Even Hermes was impressed."

Lannie nodded along, also dutifully impressed.

"Yeah..."

And yet he did not ask Lannie how she did. Kinda rude, actually.

Lannie didn't bother pressing him on her own scores. Maybe he'd just find something to criticize, anyways. She vaguely wondered if she had preferred her friend back when he was freaking out yesterday about joining the Guild.

She turned to Hermes and Thalia, eyes darting around to prevent awkward eye contact, and waited patiently for the results.

Lannie didn't have to wait long, as Hermes and Thalia finished talking and turned to the two newcomers.

"Well, we still need some time to figure things out..." Thalia said rather apologetically. "How about you come back later? We should definitely have the final decision by then!"

"Ok...but what should we do till then?" Lewis asked.

Hermes shrugged. "You can go into town. Just go down the front path and follow the road to the right; if you hear music, you're getting close."

At that, Lannie perked up a bit. She was definitely a fan of music. "All right. Lewis, let's go."

"Uhh, sure."

As the duo left, they could hear Thalia whisper "I thought his name was Dioxid?" And Hermes made a fake sound of befuddlement.

~*Q*~

 **A/N: As usual, my goal for this story is to get 1 review per chapter. It would be SO great if you could help out! This story has a weird style because of the whole RP thing and I'm genuinely super interested in what your thoughts are. See you in the next exciting installment, in which Lannie and Lewis explore the town!**

 **~*Akirys*~**


	3. Lannie And Lewis Go Out In The Town

"I don't hear any music..." Lewis said. "We've been walking for a while now. Think they duped us just so we'd leave?"

"Uhhhhh," said Lannie. "Did we go right?"

"Wait, right FROM the guild or FACING the guild?"

"uuuuhhhhhhhhhhh from the guild probably"

"...awwwww crap."

He kept walking anyway.

...

...

...

"Hey, what's that sign say?"

Lannie squinted. "...town. It's a town sign."

"Hey, so we WERE right!" Lewis exclaimed happily. "I don't hear anything though...oh, wait..."

If they listened carefully, they could just hear the sound of a fiddle being played, along with some distant cheers.

"That sounds nice," Lannie said, tilting her head (body?) to better hear the music. For a moment, she swayed, captivated, before reclaiming herself. "Let's go."

"Agreed."

The path turned, leading into a much more narrow road between two steep cliffs. They could see colored ornaments hung between the mountain walls, and as the road opened up, a great sign that read "Welcome to Tarrey: the Town of Diversity" marked the entrance.

Already, Lewis and Lannie could see how densely populated the place was; booths lined the walls selling food, drinks, and toys, and people came and go as they pleased, spending time on one booth, then shaking their head and moving on to the next, much to the owner's dismay. While the road wasn't too small, it would still be a pain just to get from one end to the other. It would be easy to get lost here.

Lannie loved these sorts of places. The music, the atmosphere...and the toys! And the crowding! She left Lewis behind almost immediately as she floated forward like she was being pulled on a string, trying to take in all the sights and sounds.

"Lannie! Uh, Lannie! Lannie...!"

"Hey, miss!" A Zangoose with a rather cheerful disposition waved Lannie down to his booth. "Want to share a drink with a special someone? We've got a special blend to make him or her go head over heels for you here at Berry Burst! Only the finest ingredients used here!"

"OR!" A Seviper adjacent to the Zangoose's booth chimed in, "You could try one of MY hearty elixirs! Berries don't do squat for romance, but the venom in these potions are guaranteed to make your crush fall madly in love with you!"

"Nah," Lannie said, turning in a different direction.

"Wha..."

"Nice going, bozo, you drove her away."

As Lannie kept moving deeper into the inescapable black hole of commerce that was Tarrey, she'd notice a few booths with a Serperior adorning the front, managed by nothing but strong-looking Pokemon. One particular booth had an Arcanine in the front talking to a rather distressed Slowking.

Lannie scooooooted to a stop to browse and listen in. She wasn't really above eavesdropping when cool tough Pokémon were involved. She fixed her gaze on the merchandise at the nearest booth.

"Please, please miss, that ruby means everything to me!"

"Don't worry about it, ma'am," the Arcanine's voice was hoarse, but also comforting, in a strange way. "We'll get you your treasure in a flash. And thank you for coming to Team Shield!"

"Lannie!" Out of the corner of her eye, Lannie could see Lewis slithering between strangers wearing a flower crown and about fifteen necklaces made of cheap stone. "Hey, I got you these necklaces since I know how much you-oh my stars."

Lannie broke away from Tchotchke Hell and floated down to Lewis' eye level. "Hey. What is it?"

He pointed at the Arcanine with a shaky finger. "Is that...Rinkah the Resilient?"

"...I don't know. Let's ask."

"What no she's like such a celebrity oh jeez I'm not ready for this ahhhhhhhh" Lewis broke for a minute.

"Hello," Lannie said loudly to the Arcanine. "Are you Rinkah?"

"NO DON'T DO THAT"

The Arcanine perked up when she heard her name. "Why, yes I am. How'd you know?"

"My friend Lewis thought he recognized you. He's the Salandit over there."

"You mean the one havin' a nervous breakdown?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"Yes," said Lannie. "That's him." She was not at all getting revenge for anything.

"Well, bring 'im over here and maybe he'll get so starstruck he'll faint."

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

"Lewis. Lewis. Forward. A little more...a liiiiittle more-"

"'Ey there, champ," Rinkah said, putting her front paws on the counter. "'Ow goes it?"

"Sweet mother of Arceus you're Rinkah..." Lewis said. His jaw fell to the floor and his eye twitched. "I'm talking to the great Rinkah the Resilient Lannie do you know how much this means to me oh my gosh"

"Rinkah the Resilient?" Rinkah gave Lewis a confused look. "It's just Rinkah, mate. I don't need any fancy titles."

"But you're, like, the strongest Pokemon in the guild," Lewis said. "Some say you were attacked by a wild Gyrados and SURVIVED. Don't you have a scar?"

The Arcanine looked flustered. "Aw, shucks, kid. Yeah, I got one right here." She showed off her right paw, which had a large burn mark on the back.

That made Lannie frown a little. "How did you get burned as a Fire-type?"

"You can still get hurt from boiling water," she answered impressively.

"That's so coooooooool" Lewis whispered. "But where are the others? Po and Ozzy?"

"Oh, there just back here. Wanna meet 'em?"

"Yeah, sure," said Lannie. She hoped a little bit that one of them was a Ghost-type.

"Great, jus' come on-"

Lewis proceeded to scramble over the counter, land flat on his face, then struggle to get up and dash away.

"...in. Jeez, he really is a hyper one, ain't he?"

"Depends on the situation," Lannie said dryly, floating after him. "But yeah, you normally can't get him to stop talking."

Lewis proved her point by pestering a Feraligatr and bombarding him with questions. The poor Water type was huddled into a corner, chewing on his tail nervously, while a Meowstic sitting on a table watched with amusement.

"Kid, couldja stop messin' with my friends? It's gettin' weird." Rinkah grabbed Lewis by the scruff of his neck and placed him on the other side of the room. The Feraligatr, relieved, put his tail down and poked Rinkah with a sharp claw.

"Thanks for savin' my tail back there," he said, wringing his hands together.

"Whaddya mean?"

"Well, y'know..."

"For Arceus's sake, Po, grow a spine. The kid ain't gonna hurt ya. He jus' wanted t' say hello."

"Oh." Po looked at Lewis with growing suspicion...then smiled happily and ran over to him, violently shaking his hand. "Howdy! I'm Po! Nice to meet ya!"

While that was going on, Lannie gravitated over to the Meowstic. She looked back and forth from him to the other Pokémon.

"...I'm Lannie"

"Hi," the Meowstic mumbled, looking away from Lannie and down at the clay he was currently playing with.

"Oh, that's Ozzy," Rinkah said. "He don't talk much, but he's a sweetheart. Now Po, let go of the poor kid before I burn ya to a crisp."

"You wouldn't do that...wouldja?"

"Yeah, if it gets ya to stop crushin' the lizard."

Po reluctantly let go of Lewis's now broken hand, then said some sort of apology to the poison Pokemon. Lewis, gripping his wrist in pain, accepted.

Lannie nodded along to all of this. She'd never met any (apparently) super famous Pokémon, and fully-evolved giant ones weren't THAT common either. Evidently they were just, like, normal.

"So, all of you are...Team Shield?"

"Dat's right!" Po exclaimed with great enthusiasm. "You got me, Rinkah, n' Ozzy over there, and you got Team Shield!"

"See, our whole shtick is that we go around protectin' people who need protectin'," Rinkah followed up. "But not a lotta people like to leave town n' go treasure huntin', so we set up a booth here in Tarrey to keep the business goin'. And to make sure we don't get kicked out o' the guild for inactivity." She added the last part with an embarrassed look on her face. "I'd hate to have THAT conversation again...anyway, I got somethin' to tell ya. Ozzy, get over here. We got a new job."

As Rinkah explained something to the rest of the group, Lewis looked at Lannie with wide eyes.

Lannie stared back. They were pretty cool, she agreed, though of course she was more level-headed than Lewis about it. (Especially as she had only learned of their existence ten/twenty minutes ago.) She absently went over to Lewis to make sure she wasn't getting in Team Shield's way.

"We are in the same room as Rinkah and Po and Ozzy," Lewis blurted, the excitement evident on his face. "Do you know how much this means to me?"

"Not as much as I probably should."

"...Oh. Well, that's fair..."

There was a brief silence, save for the chattering of Team Shield, before the group disbanded and started making preparations. Rinkah approached the duo expectantly. "We're gonna head out soon, so ya best be on ya way. Unless...ya wanna come with."

Lewis's face lit up. "Really? Can we?! ...wait, can we?"

"Can we?" Lannie repeated. "Listen, we're just apprentices...we joined the local guild yesterday and took exams about an hour ago. We still don't know if we're officially accepted. But if that doesn't bother you..."

"Naw, we don't mind," Po said, passing by. "'Long as ya don't get caught, you can do whatever you want."

"Don't believe that." Rinkah said. "Po's a bad influence, lemme tell ya. But yeah, it don't matter. S'long as you make it back to the guild before nightfall, ya won't get in trouble."

"Nightfall. We can do that."

Rinkah nodded and walked over to the back wall, headbutting it. The whole room shook, and a plastic yellow hat with rocks in it landed on her head. "Everybody ready?"

Po rushed over, tripping over nothing on the way and dropping some purple orb. He hastily scooped it up and stood proudly next to Ozzy, who was still transfixed on the light-green clay in his little, stubby hands. "Good. Now, let's get crackin'! TEAM SHIELD-and others-AWAY!"

Po cheered and jetted out the door, while Ozzy climbed onto Rinkah's back and ran off after the Feraligatr. Lewis whooped and slithered after them as well, leaving Lannie in the dust.

Lannie floated after them as fast as she could. Her speed...wasn't really all that impressive. Floating really only had two settings - "slow" and "medium."

After a couple of minutes, she gave up and used Shadow Sneak to zip right into Lewis's shadow. She and him had done this a couple times. Let him do all the moving!

The excitement of going out on a cool and amazing adventure ebbed away as they reached the border of Tarrey. In contrast to Tarrey's livelihood, the forests immediately outside of it were dark, ominous, and foreboding.

"From here on out, we'll be seein' plen'y of hostile Pokemon," Rinkah told the two newbies. "Y'all know how t' fight?"

"Yyyyyes," said Lannie.

"Sort of," Lewis answered.

"Good enough for me," Rinkah said. "Let's go."

~*Q*~

 **A/N: I HAVE RETURNED. We introduced some new characters today, none of them played by me! Perhaps my time will come.**

 **Hey, please leave a review if you've got the time! I am but a tired high schooler and it makes me very happy.**

 **~*Akirys*~**


	4. Lannie And Lewis Get Dangerous

**A/N: Hello, my friends! I come bearing unfortunate news: it doesn't look like the RP is continuing. However, that doesn't mean the story's over! I might continue writing it on my own. We'll see if the story's liked enough to warrant that, honestly. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Everything is still from the RP; I'll make a note when/if it switches to all-created-by-me in the future.**

 **~*Q*~**

Despite the gnarled trees with the twisted gray branches and roots that seemed to reach out towards you and threaten to scoop you up and trap you within their wooden confines, it was actually kind of peaceful. Birds chirped, flowers bloomed, sunlight peeked through the slits in the canopy of rotting leaves that drifted down onto the ground, providing a hearty crunch to anybody who stepped on them. Lewis resisted the urge to set the entire floor ablaze, which was probably a little sadistic. As a fire-type, Rinkah probably felt the same way.

Hopefully.

Meanwhile, as a Ghost-type, Lannie was totally calm. She didn't mind the spookiness - what spookiness, in fact? Looked like a nice normal forest to her. She'd lived in a forest for a while and that one was WAY less nice. Though, admittedly, part of that spookiness was her doing.

"Th' outskirts of Dread Forest is as normal as can be, but there's a staircase leadin' to a dungeon if you go deep enough." Rinkah said, crawling over a particularly nasty root.

"Dread Forest?" said Lewis. "That's kinda dumb."

"I ain't the one who named it. Anyway, there are some pretty mean Pokemon out here. They ain't a problem for us, but uh...y'all best be careful."

"Why are so many forest Pokémon mean?" Lannie said, just a touch grumpily. She drifted along, not worrying about the tree roots as all the others were.

"They're wild," Rinkah said simply. "They aren't used to the stuff we're used to, so they can get a little hostile."

"Hmmm." Lannie didn't ask any more questions.

Lewis looked a little off, but didn't press the subject any further.

Eventually, the group reached a rather grand-looking arch made out of twisted branches. While Team Shield didn't pay much attention to it, Lewis seemed to freeze, if only for a second, and arch his back, giving him a rather intimidating look. All of this happened in mere moments, and nobody, not even Lewis, seemed to notice.

Lannie gazed at the arch. "Dungeon entrance?"

"Eeyup," Po said. "Good eye. Now the real fun starts here."

"...do we just walk through it"

"That's what you do in dungeons, right?"

So they walked through the entrance.

...

Nothing happened.

"So...when does the real fun actually start?" Lewis asked.

"Hold yer horses," Rinkah answered. "Ya can't expect a wild Pokemon t' just jump out at ya as soon as ya walk through. Give it time. Explore a little."

"Hmm." Lannie tried to interest herself in the "exploring" thing. She was much more interested in the end result, which was finding a lost Pokémon or maybe treasure. She looked left and right, then behind her, then underneath her just to be thorough. "Hey, I found something!"

"Dat's a leaf."

"Oh."

A few minutes of exploring later, and nothing turned up. No fights, no cool items, nothing.

"Right, well, we've already found e'erything we could on this floor," Rinkah said. "And the staircase leadin' t' the next floor is o'er there. Y'all ready?"

Lewis, who had been bored out of his mind since he got here, nodded and yawned.

Lannie nodded too. She'd been keeping half her attention ON the staircase since the moment they'd seen it.

"Th' next floor'll be even better. Trust me."

~*Q*~

The second floor of the dungeon yielded nothing. Neither did the third, or the fourth. Lewis was starting to get restless and made a few comments about burning something up, all of which were immediately shut down by Rinkah. He was starting to like her less and less.

Finally, the group reached the fifth floor. Po immediately noticed something and jetted over to it, picking it up and showing it off in his claws. "'Ey, look, it's wunna those seed thingies!"

Lannie hadn't really been getting impatient (she was certainly better at trucking along than Lewis was, here) but she was as glad as he was to have something interesting(?) happen. "A seed? Oh, that's..."

"...what is it, exactly?" Lewis said, disinterested. Rinkah went over and studied it. "Oh, it's a Blast Seed," she said. "Nice. Put it in th' bag." Po dropped it into a little satchel wrapped around his stomach and looked around the room for anything else, before marching over to a hallway and peering through it.

Lannie scanned the ground, and her eyes lit on something else. "Another seed." A Sleep Seed, this time. She floated over to it a little quicker.

Lewis scuttled over to Lannie's side. "Oh hey, you found something too...what is it?"

"Sleep seed. Wait, what about you?"

"Huh? I didn't find anything. I just wanted to see what you got."

"It's not important," Lannie said, maybe a little testily. "I'll just...go look for something else."

"Jeez, okay..."

Lewis backed off and followed the group down a hallway made of trees.

She'd definitely never seen that place before. Lannie poked around for a little longer, finding nothing but some old Berry stems, before catching up with Team Shield.

"Is there...something here you're trying to find?"

"Just before you showed up, a Slowking came to us askin' if we could find the gem she keeps in her head...thing," Rinkah answered. "We're just here to find it. I'm guessin' there's a wild Pokemon here that stole it, but we haven't seen any o' them...kinda strange, if ya ask me."

"Oh!" That's right, she DID remember that conversation now. Knowing they had a real goal in mind renewed Lannie's efforts, just a little.

"If some thieves took it...they must be in the deepest part of the forest. Maybe here, where the trees are thicker..."

"Good thinkin'. We might wanna hurry, too," Rinkah said. "By now, that Slowking might've told the whole damn guild that her little rock thing is missing. This place isn't TOO much of a threat, so hopefully they turned her down for somethin' bigger. But still..." she glanced off to the side, like something was worrying her, before shaking it off and letting her determination show on her face once more.

"Yo, I found the stairs!"

"Good job, Po!" Rinkah shouted ahead to her teammate. "Let's get goin'!"

And so Lannie followed. She still didn't know much about Rinkah, but if SHE said she wanted to hurry, she was a little worried.

As they descended further into Dread Forest, the lack of wild Pokemon made Team Shield anxious, especially Rinkah, who started to lose her composure every now and then and murmur something to herself. Po was much more vocal about it, tapping his fingers together worriedly and glancing away every so often, as if expecting something. Ozzy and Lewis were the only ones who didn't seem fazed; the latter because he didn't realize dungeons were meant to be filled with enemies, and the former because he was always indifferent to...everything.

Lannie joined Ozzy right in the indifference club. She'd SEEN forests, like, just spent a bunch of time in them, and she didn't care that they weren't getting bothered.

...though, okay, it was strange. It felt like a perfectly good habitat to her. Maybe something scared them off...?

"Alright, that's it." Rinkah said suddenly.

"Something's up. Forget the exploration crap, we're gettin' down to this right now." She dashed off into a random part of the forest, Ozzy still riding on her back (though if they looked closely, they could see a hint of fear in his eyes, betraying his expressionless face).

"Woah, wha-hey wait up!" Po ran after them, leaving Lewis and Lannie in their dust.

"Oh, are we going faster?" Lannie sped up and still couldn't match their long legs.

"Oh jeez, oh, uh..." Lewis scampered towards the group, a little faster than Lannie, and disappeared into the forest.

A few seconds later, he came back, looking rather worried. "I, uh, lost them."

"WHAT"

"DON'T YELL AT ME"

Lewis sighed and shook his head. "This was a really, really bad idea. Maybe we should leave?"

Lannie gave him a flat look. "You're the one who liked these guys so much. If you want to just leave them in here, I'm fine with whatever." Still a little bit grumpy from earlier that morning, it seemed.

"I hate you sometimes..." Lewis sighed. "But you're right. We gotta go look for them."

"..."

"But then again, they ARE professionals. They can-yeah no never mind let's go"

"Don't be so indecisive! Point which way we're going, okay?" She flipped her head north, the way Team Shield had been headed last, and south, the way (she judged) back to the safety of the guild.

"Uhh...there!" he said, pointing in neither of those directions. "No, there!" He pointed north (regrettably) and hesitantly slithered towards it.

Lannie quickly overtook him and kept floating north. Hey, SHE felt comfortable in the woods, so she didn't want to make a bad impression and leave them behind if she didn't have to. "Just keep listening, okay? Branch snapping, pawsteps...they can't be out of earshot already."

Sadly, Lannie was false. Arcanine and Feraligatr are surprisingly quick. The two traveled for quite some time before, almost hilariously if not for the circumstances, ending up exactly where they started. Twice.

"...Huh. I could've sworn we already went down that path." Lewis contemplated. "Maybe...down there?"

"Yeah, let's give it a try." Lannie peered up through the tree branches. "What time do you think it is?"

Lewis squinted up. "...I have no clue. But the sun's still out, so that means we still have time, right?"

"Time...yeah. I guess we should be back at the guild by like, dinner. So we know we can catch Thalia and Hermes for their verdict." She kept moving as she spoke, on the lookout for any signs of other Pokemon.

"Yeah. I guess..."

If Lewis had not trailed off at that very second, he might've missed it; a faint blue streak jumping through the trees in the corner of his eye. He froze, silent, before continuing on again.

Lannie did the same, oblivious. She was vaguely wondering whether using Shadow Sneak would help in any form.

It happened again. Lewis froze quicker, waited longer. He was now painfully aware of his surroundings, and he wished he wasn't. "Lannie, something's up," he whispered.

"I...wait, yeah," she whispered back. "Was that Po?"

"Po's not THAT fast...is he?"

"Of course no-"

There was a small smacking sound.

"Uhh...who said that?"

Silence.

"...We know you're there," Lewis unintentionally whispered. "I mean, uh, we know you're there!"

"Dammit."

From the shadows of the forest, two silhouettes be seen; if you squinted hard enough, that is. Due to the extremely poor lighting, they didn't look like anything more than black blobs, one wider than the other, but they happened to look very familiar...

"Rinkah? Po, is that you?" Lewis said, peering into the trees and slowly inching towards the shadows.

"Uhhh..." Lannie's glowing eyes widened.

"Lewis, wait, I don't think that's..."

There was a flash of yellow, and all of a sudden Lewis was sprawled on the floor, unconscious.

"Tsk, tsk," a deep but feminine voice spoke. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"He's not dead, yet," another voice said, stronger and gruffer this time. "Poor kid."

"Oh, forget him. All Salandits are dumb like that. But I've heard that Misdreavus have MUCH more common sense..."

"Wanna test that theory?"

Lannie'd already sunk into the shadow of the nearest tree. She stayed silent, hiding as much as she could in the dim light of the late afternoon.

"See, what'd I tell you?"

The silhouettes started moving foward into the light, and Lannie could finally see what they were. The Luxray showed its face first, though it's glowing golden eyes probably gave it away before everything else. She was rolling a small orange ball around with her paws, and the tips of her fur were...smoking? Smoking. Like fire.

The Krookodile followed suit, lumbering like a giant. The reptilian Pokemon was huge, even by his species' standards, and the multiple scars on his body made it clear that he was not one to be messed with. He had a white bandana wrapped around his leg, covering what looked like a particularly nasty gash.

She did not want to mess with them. More Dark-types, ugh! Lannie tried to formulate a plan, but all she could think of was to wait until they'd gotten bored, grab Lewis, and make a break back to civilization.

She'd almost forgotten why she'd STOPPED living in a forest in the first place.

The Krookodile crossed his arms, gazing into the thickness of trees Lannie was hiding in. But the Luxray seemed to be staring directly AT Lannie, the golden lights of her eyes shining brightly.

"We know you're there~" She said in a voice that sounded...comforting, in a way. If it wasn't for the circumstances, she might've sounded like a caring mother, not a friend-fainter.

Noooooope. Lannie slid further, ducking into a different shadow.

Her eyes never left. "Still see youuuuu~"

"Cut it, Urbosa."

"Toffee! I told you not to call me that!"

"Oh, that's right, I forgot. What was it this time? Daybreak or Silverfang?"

Urbosa-the Luxray-muttered something rude, but the not-so-aptly named Toffee pretended not to hear. He looked at the growth once again. "Seriously, we know you're there. Come on out, kid."

Lannie was fully panicked by now, but she didn't want to wait for them to get impatient, not when Lewis was still there. Quickly, she snuck from the shelter of the tree to Lewis and slid into the shadow he cast as he lay unmoving on the ground. She'd hitched a ride on him sometimes, like earlier this afternoon, but usually only when she wanted to annoy him. This way, at least, she could follow if they decided to take him somewhere.

Now two yellow eyes peeked up from the ground.

"What do you want."

"For you to leave. You're gettin' in the way of our personal business," Toffee said. "We can tell you're not wild, so we're giving you a chance to get out. Or else we'll knock you out for you."

"...okay."

A blue-green blob rose up from the ground until Lewis was precariously perched on Lannie's head. She lifted about a foot off the ground, wobbled a little, and then slowly floated back in the direction of Tarrey.

"...Wow. That was...surprisingly easy."

"Yeah. Took all the fun out of it..."

"Least we don't have to worry 'bout them no more."

"I guess."

"...So which is it? Daybreak or-"

"Shut up."

~*Q*~

 **A/N: How mysterious...leave a review if you enjoyed!**

 **~*Akirys*~**


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